Willmar

WILLMAR—Bethesda Willmar has received a “Stars Among Us” Community Collaboration Award from LeadingAge Minnesota for its Cycling Without Age initiative conducted in partnership with the city of Willmar.
The award recognizes an aging services provider that partners with a city, agency, community group or other business to go beyond its traditional long-term care role to support and improve the greater community.
Cycling Without Aging is the first program of its kind in Greater Minnesota

WILLMAR—Ridgewater College has added a fifth course of study to its Transfer Pathway program.
Law enforcement students at Ridgewater will now be able to earn an associate degree and use Transfer Pathway to enter a four-year program in the Minnesota State system, according to a news release from the college.
Law Enforcement is the newest Transfer Pathway program available to students at Ridgewater College. The program helps ease the way for students who plan to transfer to four-year programs.
Minnesota

WILLMAR—Construction is scheduled to begin this spring on the first major market-rate housing project to be built in Willmar for several years. Over the past week, both the Willmar Planning Commission and the Willmar City Council made decisions that significantly move the housing project forward.
The multi-family housing complex, which will be owned and managed by JH LLC of Fergus Falls, is planned to have four, 72-unit apartment buildings located on 15 acres along the west side of Kandiyohi County

WILLMAR—In a move that further integrates the delivery of local health care, Carris Health and Family Practice Medical Center announced Tuesday that they have entered into a professional services agreement.
Patients will continue to see their Family Practice Medical Center physicians and advanced practice professionals in the same clinic location at Lakeland Health Center in Willmar, the two organizations said in a joint statement.
They said patients should not notice any changes to their care

WILLMAR—Suite Liv’n of Willmar, which owns and operates an extended stay lodging business, along with several apartment buildings in the Willmar area, is planning on adding to its housing portfolio by building a new 24-unit building at Sunwood Apartments.
The existing complex, located on 15th Avenue Northwest, near Ridgewater College, has two 12-unit buildings already. Suite Liv’n purchased the complex a few months ago with a goal to build the third building next year.
The company had

WILLMAR—The cities of Olivia and Willmar hope the Artists on Main Street program will bring new excitement to their downtowns, which have seen significant changes and challenges in the last several years.
“We will be able to use art as a problem solver. We can use art to confront some of those challenges downtown, the perception of downtown,” said Sarah Swedburg, Willmar city planner and the coordinator for the city’s newly re-established Minnesota Main Street program.
Susie Lang,

WILLMAR—While he wasn’t able to give any specifics about possible new stores opening up in Willmar’s Kandi Mall, Andy Weiner, president of RockStep Capital, the owner of the shopping center, did say there has been movement. This is especially true for the empty Kmart portion of the mall, which has stood vacant since 2012.
“We have some major national tenants for the Kmart,” Weiner said. “One which could open next year.”
What Weiner would say of the two retailers

WILLMAR—Plans for a new 16-bed child and adolescent mental health hospital were approved Wednesday evening by the Willmar Planning Commission.
The hospital will become the new home of Child and Adolescent Behavioral Services, currently housed on the MinnWest Technology Campus. The new facility will allow for more youth to take part in the programs offered, as well as give both clients and staff a state-of-the-art facility.
“It is a highly regulated facility that will require a lot of specialty

WILLMAR— The Willmar City Council heard Monday from a developer hoping to build a $28 million housing project on the northwest side of the city.
“It is a pleasure to have a project come before the council,” Mayor Marv Calvin said during the council work session. “Businesses tell me on a regular basis they can’t expand because there isn’t enough housing.”
Samuel Herzog, of JH LLC, is requesting tax increment financing assistance for a multi-family housing development

WILLMAR—A groundbreaking public/private partnership between local companies and Willmar Public Schools has begun with its first dozen students at Willmar Senior High.
The new Manufacturing and Production course this fall will take students who have an interest in areas like welding, drafting, mechanics and construction and give them a hands-on learning experience with five local businesses.
If this first class goes well, the program could eventually expand to other area schools. There’s a